I can’t find it, but I saw a really good tweet last night from someone, who, in a nut shell, highlighted that Kane’s departure was essentially the final component that has led us to where we are now. Which got me thinking.
We’d seen the likes of Toby, Vertonghen, Dembele etc all leave one by one, but Kane essentially covered everyone’s arse over the years (particularly levy’s) with the goals he scored that won us points, completely papering over the cracks. But we’re now so far removed from what we used to be, and, in no time at all, it’s all been laid bare.
The lack of investment in genuine quality replacements of our excellent team we had a few years ago (including the 3 windows of inactivity) still haunts us, as the quality in the squad has/is diminishing at a far quicker rate than it’s been/being replaced. Some great youngsters with potential, but so many senior players who aren’t at the level we had just a few years ago.
We’ve tried trophy managers, but half arsed it.
When we’ve finally spent significant money, we’ve wasted our precious funds on average players.
And now we’ve got a manager, having exhausted so many other options, who is doing his best despite no experience at this level. We continue to need quality players (which will cost a fortune), but we’re now a club sitting 12th in the league due to the impact of the previous issues not being addressed/ neglect, despite it being blindingly obvious to most fans.
Nevermind which players we want to get rid of (in order to make improvements), we’re now massively at risk of some of the players we want to keep (Kulu, VDV etc) wanting to move on, IMO. More issues to address, potentially. Yes, we’ll make some money, and I couldn’t care less if we sell Romero for example, but Dierhard’s motto of “No Real Plan” rings very true. We’re caught in this perpetual cycle and I have no idea how we escape it.
You’d think we’re not bad enough to get relegated, but we have to be looking over our shoulder now. If we get caught up in it, I don’t feel we’ve got the types of players who are capable of a dog fight.
5 points from a possible 27 is form to be terrified of. To think that 3 years or so ago we were very evenly matched with arsenal, (even preventing them from getting CL football), is really sad to look back on. We’ve regressed so badly in such a short space of time, but the worrying thing is there’s no sign of improvement in this so called “project”. Even though many fans think Ange’s “kamikaze” football is irresponsible, and yes, he might be out of his depth, I don’t think we get close to solving anything by making another sacking. Yes, we can find someone who will pick up a few more results and steady the ship such as a potter or poch type, but this rot is so deep. This a complete collapse that’s been brewing under the surface for ages, and you could argue that Kane was the constant who was instrumental in hiding the cold hard truths to so many for quite a while.
anyway, rant over.